Mike I have looked at a lot (not all, but a lot) of flat panels. The best text and images I've seen are Samsung. This monitor is gorgeous. http://www.samsclub.com/eclub/main_...BV_EngineID=ccchadchfjekmdfcfkfcfkjdgoodfkf.0 Crisp text and great images. I have four. I LUV THESE! even though it's an analog, the images are better than other digitals I've seen. For another $200 more apiece you can get the Samsung in digital if you must. You can also buy stands in just about any config to mount these on. you could get EIGHT of these 17" Samsungs and mount them on one or two stands for the same price as that massmultiple! Look around, go to bestbuy, samsclub, circuitcity, staples and actually L@@K at them. You will be surprised at the diff in image and text quality. And don't buy anything until you at least look at the Samsung.
1. Yea, I meant to correct that $529/279 business, but my edit time ran out... But I don't know about $529 being a rip-off. The price is OK compared to others. Longevity is yet to be determined. The rebate policy was told to me by the Customer Service desk, not a sales rep. Of course, it COULD be all just ONE BIG LIE!! 2. My experience with CompUSA on rebates and returns has been exemplary. So why wouldn't I trust them to handle their rebates correctly? What kind of mess would they have if millions of customers started complaining about their rebates? Not to mention the business that would leave for competitors. 3. I'm not young. In fact, retired. Old people know things. Perhaps you should listen. (I don't mean to me... in general) 4. Something in the NY water that makes you naturally suspicious?
Hi, igsi Did you have a bad personal experience with this company? If so please let us know about it. On further observation it looks like the $30 rebate check came directly from Symantec. But I've received other rebates through TCA and they did eventually come but just took a long time. I think they said something like please allow 6-8 weeks for the rebate check but it took a lot longer than that. And I agree that 100 complaints out of 10's of thousands of customers is not a high number. And obviously if you don't want to deal with rebates, which a lot of times I don't, you can just skip this offer. Increasingly I just look for good deals on products without having to deal with rebates which can be a hassle unless they're instant rebates. Depends on how good a deal it is and how big the rebate is and how long I'm willing to wait.
One other thing, any lcd flat panel that you evaluate personally be sure it is operating at it's native resolution. and also the video signal is not being split (with a cheap "splitter") among a bunch of other monitors. you'll find this at every store and it erodes image quality.
or just getting "older" and boring? or... just more practical and wise... because I didn't know you needed a $4600 monitor set-up to make money in the markets... the past several years have had 21" viewsonics. As there has been attrition find myself now down to one large monitor and one 17" (which is why I'm on this thread seeking new equipment) ; over the past months have traded the equities markets long AND short, with certain options strategies... and have been fortunate to realize some really decent gains! Point being that as time goes on, and one learns how to trade better, becomes more patient, prepares better, gains better feel for the markets (talking from my personal observations) one might continue to find that all the "equipment" we think we covet might actually be more fluff, than substance... to some degree anyway. Persons would come and see my big 21"s (before they were popular), and all the nifty colored charts and market stuff on them... and think how slick it was to "trade" for a living. As time has moved forward, and now find myself searching for new "stuff" (bell & whistles) to enhance my future trading decisions... and make consistent profits, I'm caught in a purchase dilemma the solution to which I now realize is as follows ... the only PC/processor/monitor that really matters, the one that MUST function at a high level of reliability and consistency... is my brain's computer! And thus anything I can do in my life to enhance such capability... from lifestyle modifications such as better or more consistent exercise, healthier eating, more observation and enjoyment of nature, recreation, holidays and travel, longer walks, more stretching, yoga, martial arts, meditation, introspection, card games, reading, higher quality sleep, music appreciation, improved relationships with others and yourself, volunteer work, gratitude and appreciating more, enjoyment of life away from trading... will all get more bang than thousands of $$dollars spent on fancy gizmos... all of which can break, malfunction and/or cause more stresses than might be solved. And do they really improve the quality of the only thing that matters... the decision process?! Jury is still out. But spending money on our mental and spiritual life is worth every cent, every time (imho). The above is not preaching or meant as more than a contribution to the synergy ET offers to us all in sharing our ideas... and these are also 'things' I've personally learned from experience and loss... both in and out of trading... and from which I believe flows success in all endeavors not the least important of which (to us) is -successfully- trading the markets as a career or avocation. Years ago when I got into this more "full-time" (although I always had a second career in the beginning stages) a so-called mentor, a woman friend, formally a trader on CBOT... showed me that she could perform well by calling in for quotes and market 'reads' at certain times in the day... and could preform with one computer; she had the charts in her mind, was an "expert" at TA (as she taught me to be), spent mucho time, work and preparation learning key levels of S/R, knew the O/I #, when key reports were due out, where she sought to exit/scale out, where to stop out, where to consider adding on! Since then, I've been through stretches of over-trading seemingly ignoring her lessons, and each time upon reflection recognized her words as ringing true... that to perform well in swing and position trading (imho), and with certain options strategies... you need insulation from the intra-day market "noise"! You need to NOT react; and often that noise can be quite loud, although at the end of the day nothing has changed with respect to your original plan for said position(s). Patience is still the watchword. Now, I am not in any way trying to puff, criticize or controvert anyone on this forum or otherwise... who wants the slickest or highest quality trading "equipment and tools" as they desire. Heck I like toys as much as the next guy; had my share of them including fancy black or silver ones that go real fast, and have no substitute. And those Viewsonics weren't exactly cheap back then! <lol> But as time goes forward, more and more it occurs to me that this is about making consistent profits like any business and only what enhances that goal is worth having or doing, business-wise! Now, with the disposable portion of those profits one can buy all they need or think they want in accordance with their lifestyle goals. But I just cannot accept anymore that a very good trader couldn't make a nice yearly return using a 15" CRT and a pentium III PC or III-m laptop... trading 5-12 times a month on average over a 12 month span. I came on ET to get "into" more day trading... as I'd had some decent experiences trading SPX and NDX options, intra-day. And thought a portion of funds could be used for speculation in highly leveraged futures. Of course in those (spx/ndx) cases had waited for months for the right set up, and forked out a lot to enter ITMs each time. So why not futures although I have traded none (just opened at IB for that purpose). SO... maybe for "day" trading... a quad monitor panel and other expensive gear, and high end PCs are indicated. Would be interested in others' experiences with the correlation of successful trading to high end gear... perhaps when executions are a key issue it could make sense more so than my above scenarios in swing/position trading. Regards, I
BCE, gnome, I had my share of making unwise and/or risky decisions. Fortunately, dealing with TCA was not one of them. Sometimes I can proudly say that I learned something on mistakes of others. If you are looking for testimonies of bad experience with TCA, search the WWW, search News Groups, http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=, you'll find plenty. As I said in another post, the deal does not look appealing to me considering the risks. The risks include not getting the rebates at all and/or wasting time and energy battling a company that has such bad records while trying to get promised rebates. However, I understand that for some people the risk may seem negligible. It's fine with me. The only reason I posted is that some people are not aware of the risks at all. Also, not too many people know that TCA has the worst record of all rebates processing companies. Just sharing what I know.
OK, igsi, this will be my last on this... It's no longer about TCA, but about logic and probability (hopefully integral components of your trading?) 1. Even if "TCA is the worst"... with only 118 BBB complaints out of say 118,000 refunds... that 1/10 of 1%. (The actual number is probably <1/10 of that). WAY more people mess up the paperwork than that. You're in the business of "assessing risk" for trades, what's the probability that your rebate gets honored... especially if you are diligent enough to comply with the rebate requirements?? (Some of your trades should have such a high probability of favorable outcome.) 2. What risk does CompUSA have if TCA blows a high percentage of their rebates? They are running this sale apparently nationwide and online. Would they risk pissing-off hundreds (maybe thousands?) of customers who buy high-end components with a hosed rebate plan? How could they afford to let it happen? Yes, some have had a bad experience. Haven't we all about many things. But your paranoia over this is like the little kid that hears about some other kid who gets growled at by the neighbor's terrior and concludes all dogs he'll ever encounter over his entire life are mean.